{"id":27582,"date":"2006-08-18T03:17:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-18T03:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/?p=27582"},"modified":"2023-12-07T13:15:30","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T13:15:30","slug":"music-has-the-right-to-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/articles\/2006\/08\/music-has-the-right-to-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Has The Right to Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

I was sent for the opening ceremony\nof the 27th<\/sup> International Society of Music Educators (ISME) World\nConference, a weeklong affair at the KL Convention Centre, and it turned out to\nbe a banquet dinner, along with the obligatory speeches and formalities, and NO\nCONCERT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was initially very impressed with\nthe registration process and the goody bag — a notebook, two pens (whee!),\nschedules, press kits, and even a complimentary copy of Lee Elaine’s Ethnic Instruments of Malaysia<\/em>, launched\nofficially by ISME president Greg McPherson at the opening ceremony. Too cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between sign-in time at 7:10pm to\nceremony time at 8:30pm, I decided to pick up a quick dinner at the other KLCC\n(are we running out of acronyms?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time I arrived back at the\nBanquet Hall at 8:15pm, everyone was already seated, and I was required to sign\nin again, whereupon I was given a folder with UiTM’s propaganda within, along a\nmug and another pen (whee again!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a truly international crowd.\nI’d heard that, due to poor participation, the president of the society had\nsent out a hastily typed letter expressing his hope that attendance would be\nbetter, more supportive, for this particular event. I don’t know how much\nothers had to pay for participation but for Malaysians, it was RM990 for ISME\nmembers, RM1180 for non-lSME members, and RM260 for students — so thank god\nI’m with the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truly amazing thing was the fact\nthat representatives of the 68 countries did not sit with people of their own\nnationality, but were scattered all over the hall and joined in what appeared\nto be a large jamboree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launching the main event, emcee\nMahadzir Lukhman introduced the Ustaz who was to lead everyone in a doa. It was\nonly after a minute of silence that the organisers realised that the Ustaz\nwasn’t present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there were speeches (and the\nlack of it). And the official ISME theme song, performed by a youth orchestra. And\na roll-call to acknowledge the participants from the sixty eight representative\ncountries, and there was an Awards ceremony, to the winners of the ISME-Gibson\nInternational Awards for Music Education. Both the recipients received\nUSD20,000, to be used for projects to advance music education, and a\ncommemorative hand-made Gibson guitar valued at USD5,000. Except the Malaysian\nCustoms had refused to release the guitars in time for the awards ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I left right after the first course\nwas served — an un-tossed dish of Malaysian Rojak, marched in and presented to\nthe tune of P. Ramlee’s Bujang Lapok<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buffet problems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The schedule of workshops, outings,\nconcerts and what-have-you is gruelling. Within the Convention Centre alone,\nthere are about three concerts running simultaneously, each roughly running a\nhalf hour, for an hour. That’s two concerts a slot, in three locations, which\nmake six concerts. It’s really tough for a participant to catch a lunch\nconcert, and grab a bite to eat, and still be able to watch what she wants\nwithout developing appendicitis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to mention the clashing\nconcurrent concerts going on at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Planet\nHollywood, Sedaya International University College, Akademi Seni Kebangsaan,\nBerjaya Times Square, and even all the way at Sultan Idris University at\nTanjung Malim, where they featured Egyptian Sufi chanting which I really wanna\ngo for. Sigh. The problem with a buffet is that while you’d really like to try\neverything, eventually, your system will limit you, so you can only choose what\nyou really really like (or can get to), and make do with that, and mourn for\nwhat you missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only were there too many\nworkshops and presentations scheduled, in my case (and in both occasions), the\npresenter failed to turn up. One in particular, a presentation on “Islam\nand Music”, had quite a few attendees, who were, quite surprisingly, not\nMuslim at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attendees, while waiting for\nword of the missing presenter, struck up a discussion on the characteristics of\nIslamic music, including the social and theological influence the religion has\non music overall. This brief discussion, and the different skin colours and\nstrictly academic interest, really opened my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting workshop that did\nhappen, and held in one of the main hallways of the convention centre, was the\nOrff-Schulwerk (literally, German composer Carl Orff’s school work) method\nworkshop. This method, apparently common in elementary schools in the West,\nuses everyday activities as percussive effects to engage children in music\ncreation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this workshop, as is most of the\nISME conference, the target market are little children. So, to help adults\nunderstand the Orff-Schulwerk method, the facilitator at this workshop treated\nthe adult participants as if they were kids. They were made to do elementary\nexercises involving rhythmic recitations of their names, a little ditty about a\ncar, with the strapping in of seat belt and driving around while mimicking the\nactions suited to the words. At one point, chopsticks were brought out, and in\ntrue kindy fashion, tossed onto the ground, whereupon these full-grown adults\nhad to scramble for their respective pairs. There was much scrambling and\nlaughing. It was totally childish and it really worked too. Before these adults\ncould introduce the method to kids, they first had to have it introduced to the\nkids within themselves. This was the funnest fun I had in the whole conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big harmonica players<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m going to side-track a little,\nand share with you my shopping experience. I was told the exhibition hall\ndidn’t have all that much good stuff. It’s not a large hall, but it had a\ndecent variety of stalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Included were a Roland dealer,\nprivate music institutions, higher music education booths, the obligatory\nYamaha booth commanding centrestage, and a booth by a local luthier with\nbeautiful guitars on display as well as for sale. The primary draw for me: A\nMusic Sales brand booth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh maaaan *drooool* …  they had a box FULL of sheet music for choirs\nand a capella music. Naturally, I spent money there, and even went back, every\ntime I attended a lunch concert, in the (vain) hopes that their stock would be\nreplenished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any idea how hard it is\nto get chorale, much less a capella sheet music off the shelves here? In the\nend, I managed to get a barbershop quartet songbook from Novello as well as\nsheets for “Killing Me Softly” and “Wonderful Tonight”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yamaha featured their own\ndemonstration-cum-lunch concerts. I caught one of a harmonica trio at the\nexhibition hall itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two ladies and a gent, dressed in\nblack, and wielding the most abso-fricking-NORMOUS harmonicas (these were like\nindustrial sized, double\/triple-decker puppies, with serious length), were\nplaying classical music. With much flipping and flapping of harmonicas and\naccumulation of spit, the performance was delivered with a sombre sort of\nflair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was really impressed with the\nsound, but I can tell you, it took me a while to get there, as the sheer size\nof those things boggled my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finnish pitch benders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, the concerts held in\nconjunction with this event by Music Educators were mostly by students of\nvarious institutions, both local and international, showcasing the talents of youth,\nand the teaching prowess of their respective educators-cum-conductors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I caught a back-to-back chorale\nperformance by two different choirs, from two different countries. The first I\nwatched was an Australian chorale group, Schola Cantori. Their formations were\nimpeccable, their conductor had perfect pitch, their eyes never strayed from\nthe waving of the baton, and if were to be able to pick on any one thing to\nsimply bitch about (for lack of anything better), I’d say their voices weren’t\nperfectly blended. And that’s hardly a cause for complaint. Mind you, if I were\nto estimate a guess at the average age of the group, I would say 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second group, Juvenalia Choir\nfrom Finland, looked more like college students. Dressed in formal black\nattire, with the ladies with crimson pashminas or shawls, they filed in and\nswung into a rap-style a capella song. Their brand of music was more\ndiscordant, and definitely very interesting, as they were bending their pitches\nlike crazy. It was very well done, and I regret not being able to get my hands\non a programme to find out exactly what they were singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A children’s choir from Hong Kong,\nalso very attentive but a little more light-hearted than the other choirs, sang\nsongs in Mandarin and English. There was this cute kid in the front row who was\nso emo the whole way he looked like he was training for Il Divo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An African wedding<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting, yet annoying part of\nthe concerts held at the Convention Center’s Plenary Hall and Plenary Theatre,\nwas the informal seating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when I say informal, what I mean\nis that people were allowed to come and go anytime during the concert. Being\nused to the etiquette imposed upon us during performances in this country, it\nwas a bit of a culture shock to have people constantly opening and closing the\ndoors into the hall, and moving back and forth in front of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the performances I managed to\ncatch were impressive, and the performers were disciplined and attentive. Keep\nin mind that all the performances featured children, all the way up to teens.\nThe level of ability and musicality was simply staggering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vasek School for Violin and\nStrings Ensemble had children from the age range of what looked like 6 years\n(little tykes whose feet couldn’t reach the ground) to late teens. I only\nmanaged to catch the tail end of their performance, but they were standing\nthere in three rows, accompanied by a piano and playing from memory. That never\nceases to amaze me, because my own memory stinks to high heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most groups who performed were\nfollowing the concert etiquette, one group from Africa actually stood out from\nthe rest. The students of Ballanta Academy of Music, Sierra Leone, started out\nwith four percussionists on hand drums playing a basic rhythm that, to my ear,\ndidn’t sound orchestrated or uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The percussions kept this up\nthroughout the entire half hour session, during which a story unfolded,\npantomime style, while the assembled actors and players on stage sang and\nchanted. The story revolves around a father and mother trying to wed their\nyoung daughter, who was of age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parents of the girl, as well as\ntheir entourage of young children rejected the rich proper British-type suitor\nwith his careless regard for his wealth and his disregard for tradition, as\nwell as the American-type gangsta rapper. They finally settled on a\nwell-muscled traditional African man in a loin cloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good choice, mom and dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creativity shouldn’t be an option<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had one wish for music\neducation in this country, it would be for ABRSM standard to be brought to the\nclassroom in primary school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While music is still a luxury, it is\nalso a language of its own, and so some form of standardisation in terms of\nlanguage would be really nice. It’s like the problems I had trying to learn\nmathematics from my father who spoke no BM, while the school was teaching it in\nBM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newer methods, like the Orff\nSchulwerk method, would be a real eye opener to youngsters. Music is not just\nabout the system, it’s also about creativity. While I feel the local system\nrespects the syllabus greatly, they have left it entirely to extra-curricular\nactivities to encourage creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe, just maybe, creativity\nshouldn’t be an option. Is it because music seems like too much fun to be\nnecessary? It should be a fun necessity. In a lot of ways, this conference\naddresses more and more methods to make this possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, in spite of the slightly wonky organization, the gross-over-scheduling, and my frustration at not getting to everything I wanted to catch, I think ISME was a spanking success. I’ve no clue if we’ll ever get a chance to host this event again, but if it comes around again, I’d love to be there, see more, hear more and take in more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zalina Lee is a professional musical bum who moonlights as a voice teacher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Published: 18.08.2006 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was sent for the opening ceremony of the 27th International Society of Music Educators (ISME) World Conference, a weeklong affair at the KL Convention Centre, and it turned out to be a banquet dinner, along with the obligatory speeches and formalities, and NO CONCERT. I was initially very impressed with the registration process and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3600,3537,3569],"tags":[4104,4105,4113,924,488,4114,4115,4097,4096,628,4107,4099,4098,4116,40,4111,4112,3724,4109,4108,4106,4110],"language":[7523],"writer":[7616],"class_list":["post-27582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-exhibition","category-music-2","category-review","tag-abrsm","tag-ballanta-academy-of-music","tag-carl-orff","tag-concert","tag-conference","tag-egyptian-sufi","tag-gibson","tag-greg-mcpherson","tag-international-society-of-music-educators-isme","tag-islam","tag-juvenalia-choir","tag-kl-convention-centre","tag-lee-elaine","tag-mahadzir-lukhman","tag-music","tag-novello","tag-orff-schulwerk-2","tag-p-ramlee","tag-roland","tag-schola-cantori","tag-vasek-school-for-violin-and-strings-ensemble","tag-yamaha","language-english","writer-zalina-lee"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38677,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27582\/revisions\/38677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27582"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27582"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}